Nick Swisher: Loving New York

New Yankees walk machine enjoying Big Apple

I'm halfway though my first season as a Yankee, and I can't even begin to say how much I've loved the entire experience. From the team, to the city, to the fans and to the new Yankee Stadium, it's just been awesome.

When you talk about New York, you're talking about a great city. There's so much to do, but I really just like to chill. New York is such a big place that I'm able to live a relatively private life despite playing for what I believe is the best organization in the world.

I've played in other cities before with other organizations, and I don't want to take anything away from those places, but playing for the Yankees is just the cream of the crop. Everything here is first class. There is no messing around here. When you take the field here, you take the field to win.

And just playing with some of these guys is unbelievable. From the first day of Spring Training, when I walked in and saw all the great names above the lockers, I said to myself, "Wow, this is it."

I had a similar feeling the first time I saw our new ballpark. I'm a guy who is never at a loss for words, but I struggled to say anything at first. I just wanted to soak things up.

Our Spring Training stay in Florida had just ended, and we flew in from Tampa. The entire team was just blown away with what we were seeing. Knowing the place would be our new home was just amazing. It was as if we all became kids again.

It's also a great place for our fans. The fans here are great. Anybody who loves baseball has that choice deep down to love the Yankees or to hate the Yankees. Well our fans -- the ones who love us -- are so loyal to us. I love playing for them each and every day.

I've also come to enjoy getting to the Stadium. Driving to Yankee Stadium is like a NASCAR race each and every day, and I love that.

Nick Swisher is playing on his third team in three years. After playing in Oakland from 2004-07, Swisher played with the White Sox last season before being traded to the Yankees last November. Always a fan favorite, Swisher enters the second half with a .360 on-base percentage, 14 homers and 47 RBIs.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.